Vista User Name is Wrong

[TheGreatSatan]

If someone's name was entered incorrectly in Vista's setup, where do you go to fix it? Control Panel, User Accounts is not it. It is somewhere in the registry, but where?

[mittelmeier]

If you figure it out, let me know. I tried changing it on the wife's laptop and I can get it to display right but it won't change in the registry stuff.

[xRyokenx]

Yeah, I was being sarcastic when I entered my username and set it to something mildly insulting... big mistake. That and the backups really are not much of a backup. Stupid Windows. So yeah, if anyone posts a solution, I will be happy.

[TheGreatSatan]

I've done it in XP, but not Vista. I'll play with my Windows XP Hacks book and see if the solution is the same as Vista

[Yeticorn]

May or may not help you (can't test the program, I'm running XP x64). But it's worth a shot (http://www.vista4beginners.com/Change-Owner) I think.

[AMD Killa]

press win + r. Then type "control userpasswords 2" without the quotes. That gives you access to the advanced (and normally hidden) user control panel. You should be able to change it there.

[mittelmeier]

AMD I just tried that and it didn't bring up anything.

As a side note if you really want to change the name on everything if you make a new account and transfer all your files it will fix it. I just had to do that on my wife's laptop because she changed something on her account that didn't allow Photoshop to work.

[XcOM]

right click my computer,
select management,
under users/groups select users,
then select the user you wsh to change
right click and select rename

[xRyokenx]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... with mine I changed it but it still shows up as what I don't want it to be when I install things and in the My Documents bullcrap folders, etc.

[AMD Killa]

My mistake, I put a space where there shouldent be one. It should be:


control userpasswords2 not
control userpasswords 2


Oh yeah, I forgot to mention... with mine I changed it but it still shows up as what I don't want it to be when I install things and in the My Documents bullcrap folders, etc.

The reason it does that is so that programs don't break and so that they keep your settings. It changes the name on the Login Screen and when networking, but the profile name reains the same. To counter this, you would have to backup all the documents and stuff, then delete the profile. Then create a new profile with the name you now want. The copy the files back.


right click my computer,
select management,
under users/groups select users,
then select the user you wsh to change
right click and select rename

Thats only if either Vista Business Enterprise or Ultimate is installed. Home Basic and Premium will not work like that, as they are not allowed to use the snap-in. Believe me, I've been there before. XP home has the same problem. They don't have any form of group policy, and therefore no advanced and centrally controlled permissions.

My edit to the command I gave you should work. Just press win + R, then type in the new command. Go through the UAC, then select the user you want to change the name for. Then click properties. Then you can change the username. Then click apply, then OK, then OK. You might need to reboot, so do so if it asks. Then you should have the new username on the login screen and on the start menu.

The old name might still appear when installing programs, but like I said earlier, that's just so that none of your programs break. If you changed the environment variables so that the point to the new name, the folder wouldn't exist. and under Vista, it would probably come up with an Access Denied error with all the programs.

[XcOM]

i know of userpasswords2, but wasn't aware that MMC didn't work in home, thats a new one to me, must rem never to use home, not that i do anyway.

[crenn]

Believe me, I know that you can't access group policies in Home Premium, highly irritating.